Scientists have advocated the use of GM trees to tackle the fungus that causes ash dieback. Teams at Oxford and London universities have acknowledged that there is no way of saving native ash trees from the disease that is laying waste to woodlands. However, they have said that genetic modification could give the ash resistance to the fungus faster than traditional breeding.

Hymenoscyphus fraxineus has already wiped out 90 per cent of ash trees in Denmark. It was confirmed in the UK in 2012 and is expected to kill 90 per cent of ash trees, which comprise 20 per cent of Britain’s tree population.